HOUR 2:
Tech News & Commentary
Mark in Coquille, Oregon listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: “What’s the difference between the solid-state hard drives and the 10,000 RPM? Which is faster these days?”
The first main difference would be that the solid-state drives have no moving parts. They tend to be more reliable and durable. That also means they tend, right now, to be more expensive. But as with all things tech, the price will eventually come down so most of us can afford them.
As for the “standard” or “non-solid state” hard drives, that RPM number is very important. Depending on what you do, you may want a faster drive. If you’re going to just be using your computer for things like web surfing, email, and maybe some word processing, you won’t need one of the faster drives. A 7,200 RPM drive would probably suffice. But if you’re going to be gaming, editing video, or accessing a lot of photos, you may want to go with a 10,000 or even 15,000 RPM drive. As you might have guessed, the higher the RPM on a drive, the faster is spins and accesses the data stored on it.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
William in Ashville, North Carolina listening to the podcast asked: “I have an 8GB second generation iPod Touch and with these new iPhones coming out, I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile to jailbreak an iPod Touch. What are the drawbacks? What’s the advantage to jailbreak an iPod Touch?”
While we never recommend jail breaking a device, some people see advantages. For example, it allows you to run some third-party applications and operating systems on a device that was originally not supported. One of the main drawbacks is it voids any kind of warranty a device may have and most companies will no longer offer tech support for a device that has been “jail broken.”
But you need to be careful. If you attempt to jailbreak a device (and again, we’re not recommending that you do), make sure you know what you are doing so you don’t render your device useless. Because, again, you will probably not be able to get tech support for it. If you’re doing this on a device like the iPod Touch or iPhone, and you connect it to your computer to install new software on it, it will generally take it back to the “un-jail broken” state.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Bill in Tucson, Arizona listening on XM Ch.139 sent us the following email and asked: “I’ll be doing some international travel in the coming weeks (barring another volcanic plume in the skies over Europe). What’s the best cell phone to take along that will let me call back to the U.S., surf the web, and check emails along the way without running up a ridiculous phone bill?”
We suggest that you first look at your existing phone carrier and see if they have any sort of international plans. If you happen to have AT&T for example, for $5.99 a month, you can add a Business World Traveler option to your plan. While this won’t eliminate charges when being in other countries, it will dramatically reduce the costs per minute by up to 50% in certain circumstances.
As far as data is concerned, you have to be very very careful. When we were in China, the standard international data rate applied and that was $19.97 per megabyte. So, it can get expensive in a hurry.
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Tom sent us the following email and asked: “I just noticed many free or cheap unbelievable Internet TV offers. Are they Legit or are they scams? I tried a free site and was very disappointed with the site and wonder if I would benefit by paying for a lifetime membership at a paying Internet TV site.”
IPTV Services teh team recommends:
– Hulu
– Boxee
For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Richard Granville, CEO – Yippy
Yippy is a search engine that restricts access to adult oriented Internet content while also enforcing a strict user privacy mandate.
“Into Tomorrow” Product Spotlight with Rob Almanza: Summer FUN Apps — Click Here or on Rob’s face for details
“G” in New York, NY asked: “I would like to find out where I can get hacking programs for netbooks.”
Hacking is illegal. We don’t advise doing it.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
SleepPhones: A Sheep of Your Dreams Kit
SmartSwipe: Secure personal credit card readers for shopping online
Smith Micro Software: Several copies of Anime Studio Pro 7
Total Training: Copies of Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended: Essentials
YoGen: The Universal mobile-device charger